22 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



appropriated the money, and they are holding those cattle 

 there. They have men there who count those cattle, the 

 doctor told me, twice every day, and I think now they are 

 painting every one of them so that they can be detected ; 

 but they are simply holding them there because they do not 

 know what to do with them, and of course if one of them 

 should be killed and used for beef, although Dr. DeWolf 

 says they are good beef, most of them, it would immediately 

 raise an outcry that would have a serious effect upon the 

 business of the packers. As far as I know there is no 

 touch of the disease in Illinois or at the West, except in 

 those distillery stables and on this one farm, where it has 

 been closely quarantined. That is all the information I had 

 before I came to this meeting to-night, to which has been 

 added the infoi-mation which Mr. Cheever and Dr. Peters 

 have given us in relation to it. 



AVTiat the Cattle Commissioners of Massachusetts want, is 

 to know from the combined wisdom of this Board of Asri- 

 culture whether in their judgment we shall be justified to-day 

 in taking any steps in this matter. If so, there is no trouble 

 about the law ; we have all the law we want to stamp out 

 anything of this kind, if we can only find that the exigency 

 of the case requires it. The question is, whether an exigency 

 exists to-day that would make it our duty, in view of the 

 public interest, to undertake to quarantine the cattle coming 

 from the West on to our territory, either for slaughter or 

 simply going through for shipment abroad. That is what we 

 want to know. We are ready to act the moment we can get 

 wisdom enough to act. We have got authority enough, if we 

 only know what to do. We are on guard, that is all ; but 

 whether we shall strike before we see the enemy or not is the 

 question. In the State of Connecticut they became alarmed ; 

 a meeting of the Commissioners was called about November, 

 to which I was invited, and they took action which seemed 

 to me to be unwise ; I did not think it would amount to 

 anything. They simply issued a notice, which was published 

 in the daily papers of the State, that no sick cattle should 

 ho, brought into the State of Connecticut. I don't know 

 whether anybody wanted to bring in sick cattle there or had 



